Went out to the tunnel/garden to check on the plants. The Tatsoi/Chijisimai are making a comeback from the cabbage worms as I thought they would. Got a couple of Bok Choy plants ready to take.
On the way back, stooped down and picked up 2 cups or so worth of hickory nuts within reach. All has cracked husks so I de-husked them as I collected. Don't have a nutcracker but I have pliers, same thing. Cracked one open and there's not a lot of meat in it. Others might be better. I know I could go back out and fill a gallon container with them from that one tree. They do make hickory nut pick up tools.
Cold pressing makes the best oil and I do have a small 6 ton hydraulic press but I'd need a heavy walled vessel with hole in the bottom for oil to come out and a plate/piston that would fit snugly into the vessel and then press it down.
Here's a DIY version. Taller than it needs to be since the jack only has 4-6 inches of travel. Probably don't need holes all the way to the top either but maybe it came with holes already in it. The cylinder walls are a little on the thin side.
Making peanut oil
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1ZT5PJjjW8
Would be cool to saute homegrown bok choy in home grown/home pressed oil. Ain't gonna happen today but having some source of oil here is something I'm happy to know about. Whole nuts will last years if kept in a cool place in containers.
I do have some steel pipe 4-5 inches in diameter with almost 1/4" wall.
Aside from the youtube video, I found a webpage version of an oil press using a hydraulic jack. It was on an old website I’d long forgotten about, Journey to Forever.
Small Farms Library — https://journeytoforever.org/farm_library.html
From there, I found a link to another project I’d long forgotten about, CD3WD Project — https://www.cd3wdproject.org/CD3WD/INDEX.HTM
Thousands of publications with a lot of old school, manual, primitive methods. They’re aimed at developing countries but much of it is how things were done here and in Europe decades/centuries ago.
There’s one from 1929 called The Specialist about a carpenter who ended up specializing in privies/outhouses. It’s a short story and would print out to 7 pages minus cover and info-less last page and is quite entertaining.
Sample:
So I gits in the car and drives out to Luke’s place, and hid behind them Baldwins, where I could get a good view of the situation.
It was right in the middle of hayin’ time, and them hired hands was goin’ in and stayin’ anywheres from forty minutes to an hour. Think of that!
I sez: “Luke, you sure have got privy trouble.” So I takes out my kit of tools and goes in to examine the structure.
https://journeytoforever.org/farm_library/specialist.html
It was too comfy so he made it less comfy and cut their stayin’ time way down.